


Overrated

by Chibiness87



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Angst, F/M, First Date, it doesn't quite go to plan, when does anything go to plan with these two?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-31 09:50:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18588790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chibiness87/pseuds/Chibiness87
Summary: Ok, so it wasn’t great, but she’s definitely had worse first dates in her life.





	Overrated

**Overrated** , by **chibiness87**  
**Rating** : T  
**Spoilers** : post series.  
**Disclaimer** : Not mine.

 **Summary** : Okay, so it wasn’t great, but she’s definitely had worse first dates in her life.

* * *

 

 **A/N:** So. Confession time. I haven’t written SG-1 fic in over a decade. But then I caught Grace on TV a few weeks ago, and my muse woke up, and, well, this sort of… happened.

* * *

 

She fiddles with the napkin in her lap, not quite being able to meet the intense brown eyes that sit across from her. It’s the second awkward meal she has had out in the past week in this city she used to call home, and truthfully she can think of a number of places she would rather be right now than here. Some of them aren’t even on earth. Some of them aren’t even in the _galaxy_.

Finally, the silence is broken with the sharp order from her companion. “You want to try that again?”

And yup, this right here, is why she’s currently wishing for some form of emergency. Preferably alien in nature, where she will have to run off and save the world for the, oh, millionth time. Give or take.

She chances a glance across the table. The eyes are still there. Still wide and piercing and reminding her of another set that she… nope. Not going there.

Not. At. All.

Sam picks up her glass of water. Takes a sip. It feels like she’s stalling. She _is_ stalling. The opinion of her table-mate means a great deal to her, has since the first year of the Stargate program, and the last thing she wants to do is cause another rift when the last one has only recently closed.

“Sam…”

And oh, she can hear the concern now. The disbelief turning to compassion, especially when she’s asked, “What happened?”

Sam sighs, meeting the concerned gaze across form her for a moment, before once again turning to the paper napkin in her lap. Not so different from the silk ones she had tried to occupy her hands with when she was out with… She shuts that thought down hard. Locks it away with a mental snap. “It just… didn’t work out.”

She winces. It sounds weak, even now, almost a week later, and she still doesn’t know what, exactly, went wrong. The food had been nice, the little she had forced herself to eat. The wine was nice. Everything was just… nice. And awkward and wrong and at the end of the night they had both, politely, decided not to try again.

Across from her, Cassie sighs.

“What did he say to you?”

“Nothing!” The defence comes quick, causing them both to blink at the sharp tone. Softer, Sam sighs. Shrugs. “Nothing, the Gen… Jack didn’t say anything.” She sees Cassie take a breath, and cuts her off before she starts. “And before you ask,” she says, raising her eyes to meet those of the young woman across from her, “he didn’t do anything, either.”

The politeness had nearly suffocated her. The stilted conversations about him maybe going up to Minnesota in the spring. The house she wasn’t sure she was going to sell or not.

Anything to do with work was firmly shut off as a conversation topic; they were out as a couple, not friends or colleagues.

Across from her now, Cassie frowns. “But you… I mean, you loved each other for years!”

Sam sighs. “Cassie…”

But Cassie is on a roll. “Don’t deny it, Sam. I know it, Daniel and Teal’c know it, my mom…” she pauses, swallows loudly in the sudden quiet, the ache of loss still present, all this time later. Blinking quickly, Cassie fixes her sharp gaze on Sam. “So don’t sit there and tell me you don’t.”

“Of course I love him.” The admission is soft, broken. Tears well, her heart stuttering in her chest. “That’s not…”

Softer now, Cassie sighs. “Then what?”

Sam gives a small, sad shrug. “I think we waited too long, that’s all.”

Silence falls, the weight of her words hanging between them. Unable to sit still, Sam nods towards the back of the restaurant. “I’m just gonna…”

Cassie nods absently. “Okay.”

“I’ll be right back.”

“Sure.”

Escaping to the relative safety of the restrooms, Sam finds a vacant stall, closes the lid, and all but collapses onto the makeshift seat. God, what is wrong with her?

She’s a colonel in the USAF, has spent the last decade plus exploring planets and finding new technologies others could only dream of, and here she is, relegated to the girls bathroom barely holding it together like some high school preteen because the guys she likes doesn’t like her back.

Or he does, but doesn’t think this… thing, whatever it is, is worth it.

Pathetic, she thinks. _Pathetic_.

Taking a breath, she steps out of the stall. Washes her hands for a moment, before turning the facet to cold. Splashing the cool water over her eyes, she lets them fall closed for a moment, resting her weight on her arms where she has braced them against the porcelain of the basin. Blinking her eyes open, she stares at herself in the mirror, before giving her reflection a firm nod.

So things with a certain general didn’t work out. That doesn’t mean she has to hide away from the world. She was offered the command of the Hammond; she’s sure if she as to call them up to say she’s changed her mind about taking it she’d be allowed to become part of the crew. Command may have passed her by, but that doesn’t mean she can’t be made useful somewhere else.

And maybe, with a bit of distance, she’ll stop thinking about the one man she was never supposed to love in the first place.

Approaching her seat, she sees their meals have arrived in her absence, not that Cassie seems to have noticed, engrossed in her phone as she is.

“Everything okay?” She asks, pulling out her chair.

Something suspiciously like guilt flicks over Cassie’s eyes for a moment, before she blinks and it’s gone. “Fine.”

Wariness fills her; the same kind that has saved her butt more than once in the field. “Cassie…”

“Don’t hate me.” She throws her hands up, eyes wide.

“Are you about to give me a reason to?” She tries for light, jovial. Knows she falls miles short when Cassie sighs, looks away. A thought spears through her, and she winces. “Please tell me you didn’t call him.”

When Cassie remains quiet, Sam sighs. “Cass…”

“What?”

“Look. It’s not like I don’t…” she pauses for a moment, thinking of the way she wants to say what she needs to, “appreciate you’re upset things didn’t turn out like you wanted them to.” She stops. Swallows. Looks down for a second before whispering, “Like I wanted them to.” Clearing her throat, she looks up. “But if you’d seen him, us, at that restaurant… you would know it wasn’t going to work out too.”

Cassie’s eyes widen at this admission, shock obvious. “He took you for a meal? Like, a fancy pants get dressed to the nines dinner and dancing and the whole shebang?”

The incredulous in her tone shook something inside. Wary again, Sam nods. “Yes?”

“Jack O’Neill took you out for dinner and dancing.”

“Well, not dancing, no, but…”

Cassie doesn’t let her continue. “The same Jack O’Neill who used to eat reheated pizza for dinner and breakfast, found the best Chinese takeout in the world, and taught me the finer arts of eating enough sugar to be on a high for hours without being sick. That Jack O’Neill?”

She’s still missing something. “Yes?”

Cassie sits back, a bark of laughter escaping her. “Well, no wonder your date was a disaster.”

“Cassie!” Okay, so it wasn’t great, but she’s definitely had worse first dates in her life.

Mirth still obvious, Cassie shakes her head. “What? You guys… you thought, you’d what, go for a meal and talk, like a real first date?”

Hurt flashes though Sam, sharp and bitter. “It was a first date!”

“Oh please.” Cassie waves her hand between them, the food on the table all but forgotten. “You two are so far beyond first date territory it’s almost insane you thought it would work.”

Confused now, Sam blinks. “What do you mean?”

Serious suddenly, Cassie fixes her eyes on Sam. “First dates are like… they’re the getting to know you part, y’know?” She shrugs. “Like, favourite desserts, or where you grew up, or what family you have, you follow?”

Sam nods. “I guess.”

“What’s Jack’s favourite animal?”

She doesn’t even blink at the curve ball. “Dog.”

“Dessert?”

“Pie. Or red Jell-o.” At Cassie’s raised eyebrow, Sam shrugs. “It depends on what sort of day we’ve had in the field.”

“Biggest regret?”

“Cass…” She doesn’t answer out loud, but the answer springs up in her mind. His son’s death.

But Cassie simply shrugs. “You see? You guys… you don’t need first dates.”

Hope, sharp and bright flickers in her heart. “So… what?” Sighing sadly, she thinks back to their previous parting. “We both agreed to let this go, Cass.”

“Do you really want to?”

“No.” Her answer is too quick to be anything but honest. No, she doesn’t want to let him go. Doesn’t want to try to get over him again; look how well her previous attempts have gone.

Cassie nods. “That’s what I thought.” Turning her phone round, she shows Sam the screen. Sam stares at it for a moment, eyes widening as she reads over the details, the solider in her perking up at the finer details. Glancing up, she asks, “Paintball?”

Cassie nods decisively, a glint in her eye. “Paintball.”

It is, Sam thinks, not exactly a bad idea.

* * *

 

Two days later, watching the remains of the paint disappear down the drain while the hot water soothes her tired muscles, she grins to herself. Maybe Cassie was right.

Behind her, the bathroom door opens with a creak, letting some of the hot air out. “Stop hogging all the hot water, Carter! Jeez.” The door to the shower opens for a moment, before the warm press of his chest pushes up against her back. Turning, she welcomes the slightly heated kiss Jack presses against her mouth, eyes closing on a sigh as his hands start to gently explore her skin once again.

They don’t need first dates.

They just need this.

Them.

Together.

Finally.

* * *

 

End

Thoughts?


End file.
